美研发“碳平台”助力提升DNA自动定序系统性能

美国宾夕法尼亚大学(University of Pennsylvania)的研究团队发现，在DNA自动定序(automates DNA sequencing)系统的应用中，以碳(carbon)为基础的组件平台性能表现，可超越现有的氮化硅(silicon-nitride)系统。

透过整合了石墨烯奈米孔(graphene nanopores)的碳制侦测器，宾夕法尼亚大学的研究团队成功检测到DNA链的“电子签章”。这种石墨烯探测器是该团队利用化学气相沉积方法，来长成石墨烯薄片，然后以穿透式电子显微镜(transmission electron microscope)的电子束在其上钻出奈米等级的小孔。

研究人员表示，个别DNA链会被诱导穿过那些具备电场的微小石墨烯奈米孔，这种过程叫做易位(translocation)，能透过用微小电极、在DNA基(base)通过石墨烯孔洞时侦测到它们。每个DNA基，能以稍微不同的电流导电已进行识别。

宾夕法尼亚大学的研究人员已经开发出一种碳奈米平台，能以电子方式、透过用电场推动微小DNA链通过原子厚度的石墨烯奈米孔，来检测单个DNA分子，并用这种特别的“电子签章”方法来进行DNA定序
(来源：Robert Johnson)

与现有的氮化硅侦测器相较，这种碳平台能够显著增强来自易位电极的讯号；上述研究赞助单位包括美国国家卫生研究院(National Institutes of Health)、美国国防部陆军研究办公室(U.S. Department of Defense, Army Research Office)、Penn Genome Frontiers Institute、Nano-Bio Interface Center at Penn、Nanotechnology Institute of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania以及Pennsylvania Department of Health等。

点击进入：参考原文(Researchers say carbon-based platform beats silicon for detection, by R. Colin Johnson)

《电子工程专辑》网站版权所有，谢绝转载

{pagination}

Researchers say carbon-based platform beats silicon for detection

by R. Colin Johnson

Carbon-based platforms outperform existing silicon-nitride based systems, according to a University of Pennsylvania team that is working on a system which automates DNA sequencing. With its carbon-based detectors, the team has been able to sense the electronic signatures of DNA strands with integrated graphene nanopores.

The graphene-based detector was fabricated at the University of Pennsylvania using chemical vapor deposition to grow flakes of graphene in which they drilled nanoscale pores with the electron beam of a transmission electron microscope.

The researchers were able to demonstrate that individual DNA strands could be coaxed into threading through the tiny graphene nanopores with electric fields. The process, called translocation, detects the components of a DNA strand (called bases) by sensing them with tiny electrodes as they glide through the graphene pore. Each DNA base, according to the researchers, can be distinguished by virtue of conducting with a slightly different current.

The carbon-based platform was found to significantly boost the signal coming from the translocation electrodes, compared to existing silicon nitride detectors.

Funding for the research was provided by the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Defense, Army Research Office, Penn Genome Frontiers Institute, Nano-Bio Interface Center at Penn, Nanotechnology Institute of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Department of Health.